News for Austen Enthusiasts: July 2025

As summer begins to cool towards Autumn, we're soaking in the last of the warmth and picnic opportunities (at Box Hill, of course, for those lucky enough to live in Jane Austen's England). Of course, the fun isn't over yet - we still have the Jane Austen Festival to go. And what a festival it's shaping up to be, with tickets still available for many events. If you haven't started planning your trip yet, now is the time, since we'll be welcoming you all to Bath and its surrounds next month! If you can't join us, don't worry, we'll be keeping you updated with all the goings-on, and we have an upcoming blog in the works about how to celebrate 250 years of Jane Austen from the comfort of your own home. If you would like to be one of our featured Festival reviewers for this year, please contact our blog editor.

In the meantime, here's all the Jane Austen news and updates you might have missed in July!

Meet your new 'Sense and Sensibility' cast

It's been a bumper year for Jane Austen adaptation news, and they just keep coming! Last month, we got you up to speed with the new announcement that Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones would be stepping into the sensible shoes of Elinor Dashwood for a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. This month, we revealed the rest of the cast and brought you up to speed on all the new developments.

Some have misgivings about new Jane Austen adaptations

Whilst some are excited for new adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, others are sceptical about them. For some, it's a case of leaving well-enough alone, but for others, there are different motivations for taking new adaptations with a pinch of salt. For columnist Emma Brockes, it's the message: do Jane Austen's novels encourage dated beliefs about women and marriage?

Sanditon character brought to life in new portrait

As part of Harewood House's new exhibition celebrating the English country house through the eyes of Jane Austen and J.M.W. Turner, a new portrait of Miss Lambe from Sanditon has been unveiled. Sanditon, Austen's unfinished work, is the only of Jane Austen's novels to feature a character of explicit African descent, and the portrait of Miss Lambe has been crafted by artist Lela Harris with these complexities in mind. The portrait was created using stationery from Harewood House, the construction of which was funded using the profits of the Transatlantic slave trade. It is on display until mid-October.

Hampshire exhibition celebrates lives of working women

A new exhibition in Winchester, entitled 'Beyond the Bonnets', celebrates the contributions of working women to the comfortable lives of Austen's protagonists. The exhibition uses Austen's letters to her sister Cassandra and voiced excerpts from Jane Austen's novels to demonstrate how servants, tutors and other workers enabled the gentry to lead comfortable lives. The exhibition hopes to enlighten visitors about the lives of real working women of the time.

Find out more at the BBC >>

Jane Austen novel sales at 15-year high

Jane Austen's 250th birthday has seen Austenmania enter the pop culture zeitgeist once more, and it's having a real impact. The Bookseller have reported that sales of Jane Austen's novels have hit a 15-year high this year, with new special editions helping to bolster the trend. Have you picked up any new editions this year?

Bestselling author admits to struggling with Austen

One Day and Started for Ten author David Nicholls has confessed to struggling to read Jane Austen in an interview with the Guardian. In his 'Books of my Life' interview, Nicholls recalls the books that have influenced him over the years, and the books that have somehow eluded him. After years of finding Austen's 'ironic tone a little relentless', he finally found his way through Persuasion during lockdown.

Read the full interview at the Guardian >>

Jane Austen County Fair draws costumed revellers

The Jane Austen County Fair is always a big one in Steventon, Hampshire, but this year it formed the jewel in the crown of the town's Jane Austen 250 celebrations. Revellers came from far and wide to celebrate with Regency costume, maypole dancing and a talk from the one-and-only Lucy Worsley. The gallery offers a glimpse into what you might expect to see at our Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in September.

See the pictures at the BBC >>

AS ALWAYS, WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW IF WE HAVE MISSED ANYTHING, AS WELL AS ALL YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEWS!

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